Kandou PCIe Retimer Solution for Data Center Applications

Kandou Bus SA, a company specializing in high-speed and energy-efficient chip-to-chip link solutions, has announced the Regli, the multiprotocol retimer family member for PCIe 5.0 spec and CXL 2.0.

This technology builds upon the current PCIe 5.0 spec and offers lower latency. The solution supports the PCIe interconnect standard and CXL for data center applications, with A0 samples available in 3Q23.

Regli is the latest addition to the company’s existing portfolio of multiprotocol retimer solutions, which includes the Matterhorn family of USB-C multiprotocol retimer solutions for USB4. It improves the physical connection quality, low latency, and security for PCIe and CXL interfaces, making it a solution for data centers and hyperscalers with heavy computational workloads.

These centers employ PCIe technology and CXL as the primary interface to link host processors, GPUs, AI accelerators, CXL memory modules, and SSD storage. Other applications for Regli include servers, workstations, desktops, 5G infrastructure equipment, networking equipment, PCIe and CXL storage, and PCIe active cables.

“We are excited to introduce the Regli retimer family for the PCIe 5.0 specification and CXL 2.0,” said Amin Shokrollahi, CEO. “This innovative technology delivers significantly lower latency, enabling the next generation of CXL 2.0 applications and facilitating composable server architectures. We are confident that Regli will exceed our customers’ expectations and further establish Kandou as a leader in high-speed, energy-efficient connectivity solutions.”

“Kandou’s contributions to PCIe 5.0 retimer technology and development with PCIe specification-based products expands the PCIe technology ecosystem by supporting solutions for data centers and hyperscalers,” said Al Yanes, chairperson and president, PCI-SIG.

About Regli PCIe retimer
KB9003 is a 16-lane bidirectional PCIe 5.0 technology and CXL 2.0 protocol-aware retimer that supports CXL 2.0 and data rates up to 32GT/s. It is backward compatible with PCIe 1.0 technology to PCIe 4.0 technology. The retimer increases PCIe trace length between a root complex and its endpoints while maintaining signal integrity by dynamically compensating channel loss up to 36dB through Kandou’s Autonomous Receiver Equalization (ARxE).

Other features include multiple control interfaces, flexible clock modes, extended system reach, secure boot, and on-chip diagnostics. In addition, the Regli PCIe Retimer comes with multiple package options and is compliance ready.

The retimer supports the CXL retiming mode by responding to CXL flex bus capacity commands. It offers a common clock mode through an elastic buffer and separate reference clocks with independent spread (SRIS) mode with different packet size configurations. A drift buffer mode via low latency targets low latency applications.

A0 Samples of KB9003 and evaluation kits will be available in 3Q23.

Video: Introducing Regli-PCIe

About Kandou
It is a fabless semiconductor company that offers differentiated and fundamental interconnect technology. In addition to building semiconductors for advanced standards in USB and PCIe applications, the firm’s silicon and IP solutions lower power consumption and improve the performance of wired connectivity. The company’s solutions unlock new capabilities for customer systems and devices ranging from consumer electronics to datacenters, AI and ML, and HPC. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Saint-Sulpice, Switzerland, with offices in Europe, North America and Asia.